Thornton Mom

Our Sweet Amber (Hermana Thornton) leaves for her mission tomorrow.  She is going to Arequipa, Peru.  I am so very proud of her.  Amber is an amazing young woman.  She has a wonderful testimony, she is bright, beautiful, confident, smart, and capable.  I am so excited to see her grow and succeed.  She will be amazing. They had a pig picking for her Saturday night and then Sunday she gave her farewell talk which was amazing.  We then had leftovers at the Thornton's and said our last goodbyes.  What a blessing it is to be her Aunt. I think I am being bitten by the Family History bug.  Yesterday I went to Amber's ward and they talked about Family History in Relief Society.  I rolled my eyes and was not excited but thought oh well.  Then someone made a comment that disturbed me.  They said that there are a few temples now that are requireing you to bring your own names to the temple.  That they will not provi...

 We had our July 4th swim meet.  The kids got to put patriotic tattoos all over themselves.  They thought it was awesome.  Only after a few races we had a huge storm blow in and the meet was cancled.  When I told our coach that our family would not be there the next day because we were out of town she was not happy.  My family leaving takes 4 of her swimmers.  It was one time that I felt like having a big family really does make a good difference. Our next meet I missed as I have my broken foot.  My sweet sister in law and mother in law took them to the meet.  Derek was out of town.  It was very sweet of them. Angela has taken such good care of me.  She got the kids to the meet, invited the girls for a sleep over with Amber before she left on her mission.  Will brought JD home from the meet.  Then at 12:30 in the morning I got a call from Elizabeth and Maddison was throwing up.  Will cleaned her up and got h...

Michael and I were leaving the grocery store.  I asked him, "Should we go get in the car?"  He replied, "Aunt Annelise's car."  Confused I said that Aunt Annelise was not here.  Then we walked outside and he pointed to a red car in the parking lot (the same color as Annelise's) and said again, "Aunt Annelise's car."  As we walked by and I tried to explain that it was not her car he wouldn't agree.  As we were pulling out there was a grandmother putting groceries in the red car.  Michael looked at the car and said, "Aunt Annelise's car?"  I am so glad that he loves Aunt Annelise.  My beautiful niece attended the temple for the first time this past weekend.  It was wonderful to see her in the temple surrounded by family and friends.  I am so proud of her for making that decision.  She is a wonderful example to all her nieces and nephews.  In a few months she will be off on her mission to Peru.  We are so blessed...

Last night I prayed for strength and patience to help me with one of my childreen.  I had thoughs of why the Lord had sent this child to me and wondered if another parent wouldn't have been more suitable, had more time and was more empathetic.  Then the Lord let me know that I was chosen to be the mother of this child.  He knew I could do it.  This gave me the peace and calm I needed.  It was nice to feel His confidence in me.  I am truly blessed. My niece opened her mission call last night.  She is going to Peru.  We are so excited for her.

Out of town again . . . Here is the next part of our summer: I recently celebrated my birthday.  My sweet sister in law knew my husband would be busy so she invited us over for dinner.  Instead of a card we went around in a circle and everyone said something they liked about me.  Maddie said she liked that I let her watch TV when the kids are at school.  Derek said that I am the most compassionate person he knows. Amber said that she enjoyed babysitting for us especially when I would drive her home and she would get to talk to her aunt.  Angela said that she knows I am a woman of faith.  That she knows how difficult things can be with her husband's calling and she has 3 older children and I am doing it with 5 young children.  It was nice to see that my influence is for good.  It was a good reminder that all I do does not go unnoticed. Book of Mormon, Alma 58:10 ...

Maddie wanted to do everything Aunt KoKo did Maddie is too cool John Derek loved playing with his cousins Ammon drove the jet ski all over the lake Amber will leave us at the end of the summer to attend school Michael and Samantha have fun with the water and bubbles With Derek and Elizabeth involved in different Girls Camp activities we decided to spent time with Derek's family at his parent's lake house.  It was fun to visit with family, play games, play in the water, and just relax.  I love my in-laws, they are wonderful people I am so blessed to be part of their family. I remember the first time I was in their home (on a blind date with my future husband) and I felt a great amount of love in their home and thought that whoever was part of that home must be very blessed.  Little did I know that I would be part of that love and it is such a blessing. In this Communication Age, How Effective Are Your Prayers? Contributed By By Sist...

This morning was hard getting the kids ready for Church.  I was tired from staying up chaperoning a youth dance.  After trying to take a nap and being interupted every 3 min. I prayed for help and felt that I should get up and have scripture study with my kids.  Two of my nephews and my niece and a friend of theirs at a youth dance. My nephews are such studs. Today was Elizabeth's first day in Young Women's.  She had gotten a new dress and really wanted to wear it.  But it needed a few alterations that I thought I could do in about 5 min.  It took 35 min .  Elizabeth wanted to wear makeup for the first time 10 min . Samantha had a talk that I had forgotten about so she and I worked on it another 10 min .  I had a lesson to give and needed to print it out 7 more min.  Then as we were walking out the door 15 min . late for Church Elizabeth stepped on her dress and ripped it.  At this point I took many deep breaths said a prayer ...